One of the auction items in the charity gala was airfare/hotel accommodation/living & meal allowance for a couple to travel together with the Houston Rockets for an experience of China this coming summer.

This indirectly proved that this year China Game will feature the Houston Rockets !!! (Whether it will be a China Derby featuring Yao Ming versus Yi Jianlian is not yet known.)

3 couples were bidding for the package that raised from US$ 7,500 to US$ 17,000. Finally Leslie Alexander decided on giving away 3 of such packages, thus raising a total of US$ 51,000 just for this item.

i beg to differ. they are not the prettiest couple, but the artest/wife comparison is a bit grotesque.

WHY bother to respond to that troll that probably has no idea of what true love is???

As other posters pointed out, alot of NBA players (like Ron Artest) grew up in the ghetto, and they married at a very young age, and their wives were their college or childhood sweethearts.

For the case of Yao Ming, he first met Ye Li when he was 16 years old, and Ye Li a 15-year-old when he and she were still at the basketball training academy in Shanghai. He dared not approach her, and just silently admired her from afar for at least 2 to 3 years until he became a member of the national team. And through his persistence and patience, he finally got the heart of Ye Li. He never dated any girls and she was his first love.

She could be not as glamorous and beautiful as other girls/women. but in Yao Ming's eye, she is beautiful. That's EOUGH.